Leviticus 1-2: On the Nature of Sacrifice

After reading the first two chapters of Leviticus, a couple of questions came to mind. The main one is what, in the end, is the significance of the Levitical priesthood? And the other question actually concerns an enigmatic figure from Genesis, Melchisedech the priest.

Concerning the Levitical Law my commentary notes: "The laws which [God] enacts, are such as suited the Jewish people: they were not able to rise all at once to perfection; but these laws guide them, as it were, on the road." From this quote I gather that the detailed Law we read of in Exodus and Leviticus and the rest of the Pentateuch is really only relevant to the ancient Jews. That it was an imperfect law that was meant to be temporary until Christ brought the new and fulfilled Law. But is this completely true? I wonder why these books of Levitical Law have remained part of the canon of Scripture, then, if they no longer hold relevance. Well, the obvious answer must be that they do still hold relevance, and my quest now is to understand how they do. For starters, my commentary further notes that "if we confine ourselves to the letter, we may say these precepts are not good, and carnal (Hebrews 7:16), but if we consider the spirit, we shall confess that they are excellent, and spiritual (Romans 7:14; 2 Corinthians 3:6)." That distinction between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, I think, is going to go a long way in explaining many things I am about to read in the Book of Leviticus. And I think the confusion that arises in distinguishing what is the letter and what is the spirit leads to many problems of interpretation that we hear of today.

The other question, regarding Melchisedech, is something that I will probably return to many times while reading Leviticus (and throughout the Bible as a whole, probably). It appears that there are two significant priesthoods contained in the Old Testament -- that of the Levites and that of Melchisedech. We are obviously given a large amount of information concerning the Levitical priesthood, but we are told nearly nothing about the order of Melchisedech. And yet, as we've been told, the Levitical priesthood was imperfect and temporary. And the order of Melchisedech seems to be more aligned with the perfect and eternal priesthood ushered in by Christ. We are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews that "if then perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law) what further need was there that another priest should rise, according to the order of Melchisedech and not be called according to the order of Aaron?" (Hebrews 7:11). At this point, I'm simply bringing the topic up, and I plan to return to it as I progress through Scripture. I just find the person of Melchisedech, who sacrificed using bread and wine rather than a bloody animal, truly interesting and captivating.